Ivory Tower
by BlueWolf1923
Summary: Light touches Higuchi's Death Note, and his memories of Kira return, but his motives don't. he confesses to his crimes and is acquitted. The Death Note is burned, and L moves to another case. Shinigami are still bringing notebooks to the human world, but L has an unlikely new apprentice, and perhaps something more, in Misa.
1. Confessions

A/N: let me begin by saying I'm both an L and Light fan. I think that if things had played out differently in the original story, the "new world" might actually have worked, and I particularly hate Near. Mello, I can respect, because he had badass moments, but both he and Near were just L knockoffs in my opinion. So, they won't be making major appearances in this story.

Light screamed, not in pain or fear, but horror. All his memories of killing countless people came flooding back, until at last his most recent memories. He held the Death Note gingerly, as though it actually hurt him to touch it. He panted, staring at the white shinigami standing over his father. Rem. "Ryuzaki?"

"yes, Light?" L was trying to sit normally in the helicopter cockpit, but it wasn't going well.

"I'm not really sure how to say this, but I just got my memories back. From when I was Kira. As soon as I let go of this notebook, I'll forget again, so I think I should explain all of it now. I don't want to touch this thing ever again."

L bit his thumbnail, and quietly awaited Soichiro Yagami's next scream of horror, realizing his son had just confessed to being the worst mass murderer in recorded history. "you are claiming that your memories vanish when you're not in contact with this book? It's laughable."

"I can't really prove anything, but I can give you this." Light opened the hidden compartment of his watch, and handed the scrap of Death Note to L. "I was planning to kill the third Kira with this, writing in my own blood, but now you have it. If I had killed Higuchi, ownership of the Death Note would pass to me, and I'd keep my memories, but I don't want that."

"so a piece torn from this notebook can kill?"

"yeah, and that's not all." Light flipped to the back cover. "these two rules are fake, made up by me to protect myself from suspicion and to keep the book from being destroyed."

L plucked the Death Note from Light's hands, and looked at its cover, fascinated. "a notebook that can kill people. Light, Misa was the second Kira, am I correct?"

"what? Ryuzaki, I thought we were done with this! It doesn't matter if Misa and I might have been Kira. The real one is right there!" he pointed to Higuchi, once again oblivious to his past crimes. "we've done it, we've solved the case. Can't you just let it go?"

_So it seems you weren't lying. If your memories had stayed with you, then you would have slipped up, and began answering in the affirmative. There are no other possibilities anyway, Misa Amane was the second Kira. The only question is, has she somehow regained her memories?_ "Light, please hold on to this for a moment." Light made no protest, and took the notebook back, once again howling as his memories returned. "do not remove your hand from the notebook. I want to hear the whole story, and I want you to tell me right now, who the second Kira was."

Light sighed. "it was Misa. Her notebook is buried in a forest, I can tell you where it is if you want. The catch is, I left a note saying I would love her if she killed you with the notebook. If she reads that note, she'll kill you. I can't believe I would use her like that!"

"I can, but please carry on."

"I'll tell you everything when we get back to headquarters."

X

"…so tomorrow, I was planning to have Misa dig up the Death Note, and begin killing criminals, meaning you would immediately suspect her. You'd attempt to test this notebook, and Rem would kill you to protect Misa."

Rem scowled in disgust. "you humans are truly repulsive creatures."

"not all of us," Light replied miserably. "just people like me."

"truffle," L muttered, and threw said candy into the air, leaning forward slightly and catching it with his teeth. He reached for another. "truffle." He broke the soft chocolate in half, and tossed both pieces upward, one after the other, and caught both. "oh. I'm sorry if I seem not to care. I'm always like this after solving a case."

"so you believe me?" Light asked.

"yes. After all the information you've revealed, and the fact the white thing over there hasn't protested, give me reason enough to trust what you've said. The shinigami obviously hates you, Yagami-kun. If you attempted any lie, it would contradict you to have you prosecuted, now that doing so will not worsen Misa's position. It is very clear that Ms. Amane remembers nothing of her crimes or motives, essentially, she is innocent as long as she does not touch the buried Death Note. You, Light, will be innocent as soon as you drop that notebook, and with your memories, Kira will disappear."

"one last thing. Dad, I'm sorry…" Light dropped the notebook on the floor.

"well, case closed, mystery solved, time to burn that wretched book," L said cheerfully to Light, who didn't understand, then looked down at his plate. "last truffle."

X

Ryuk chanted quietly, "apples, apples, apples…" as he flew downward through the treetops, landing in an old oak's branches. "what the…"

L looked up at Ryuk, holding the Death Note that Light had buried. "so all shinigami look different…"

"you. You're L, aren't you? I can see your name, and it's too much of a coincidence for you not to be, L Lawliet."

"yes, I am L. Light Yagami told me to bring you some apples, which I have, and also to let you know that things will be very interesting from here on." L tossed Ryuk a bright red apple, and the shinigami leapt through the air to catch it with his oversized teeth. L remembered the look of misery on Light's face when he touched the notebook for the third time, and L had asked him if there were any protocols involved with digging up Misa's notebook. "I don't intend to kill people with this notebook, but it's best to know your enemy. You will be coming with me, and I will begin my next case, I'm following a serial killer in Italy."

"sounds fun," Ryuk said cheerfully, and bit the apple again. "hey, yeah. What about the other notebook?"

"destroyed, except for this," L replied, and held up the rules page of Higuchi's Death Note.

"so I don't have to follow around a boring normal kid for the rest of his life. That means I get to haunt you, and enjoy the show some more."

X

Misa picked away at a slice of Ryuzaki's cake, sitting alone in her room at the Kira Task Force HQ. "damn it…" Light had tried his best to let her down easy, but even without her memories of being Kira, Rem had touched her with a piece of the Death Note and told her what had happened during her missing memories. "how could he, after what we've been through?"

Knock. "I want to avoid getting your hopes up, it's just me," L called through the door.

"if it's about the cake, you better get used to it!"

"that's not why I'm here, but the strawberry cheesecake was an excellent choice."

"okay, fine, come in."

L opened the door, and crouched on the sofa across from Misa. He held his knees with his palms, and proceeded to stare at her.

"come on, Ryuzaki, show some manners," she said half-heartedly.

"oh, I'm not just ogling you. There's a point to this. You see, it all makes sense now. You don't remember being the second Kira, but you know you were. It's likely Rem told you somehow."

"you know what? Just get it over with. Handcuffs, blindfold, carry me off to my execution. I don't even care."

"I'm not here to arrest you. You don't remember your crimes, it would hardly be a fair trial. I'm just curious how you found out, since I know you did. It's how you got Higuchi's confession, isn't it?"

"yeah, Rem appeared behind me, and told me I was the second Kira. She revealed that Higuchi was Kira, and then he asked me out. In his car, I told him I was the second Kira, and said I wanted to marry the real Kira. That's why he confessed, because he wanted me."

Ryuzaki smiled. She had never seen him do so before, and it caught her off guard. "that was clever. Doubly so, since it took me this long, and a direct confession from you, to realize how you had done it." Misa forced a weak smile, then went back to her cake. Ryuzaki looked around, noting that the security cameras were decommissioned in this room, for Misa's privacy. She was obviously quite depressed over Light, and after what Ryuzaki had put her through, he figured he owed her. "Misa, have you ever been to Venice? It's considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world."

"no, I haven't been to Venice," she answered, slightly bitter. "why the hell do you care?"

"because I'm going there next week to catch a serial killer. If you want, it would be no problem for me to arrange first-class travel for you to come. We'd be there for about a month, so you'd need to be sure your calendar was free, but…" Ryuzaki trailed off.

"you wanna take me to Venice?" Misa looked up at him with what he thought was hatred, but without warning, she jumped off the couch and hugged him. "that's, like, a million times more romantic than anything I did with Light! Wait… you're not hitting on me, are you?"

"well, just days ago, you weren't even sure if I was on 'that side of the fence,' as you put it. But, to answer your question, no, I'm not hitting on you. At least, not yet." Misa gaped, and Ryuzaki smirked again. "so, will you come?"

Misa took a moment to think. "I got fired from the movie I was filming with Hideki Ryuga because I wouldn't kiss him. Yotsuba is going down the drain over the Higuchi scandal, so I'm free, at least for the next month. So yeah, I'll come. Don't go putting the moves on me though, I took jiu-jitsu."

"I would never think of abusing you. Although, to be fair, I mastered jiu-jitsu when I was nine."

X

A/N: I'll try to avoid OOC in this story, but I'll probably mess up Misa's character, because I've only ever heard her described as a ditz, and in this story she's basically going to be L's new apprentice, which requires her to not be an idiot. Also, if anyone has any opinion on whether I should keep Light in the story as Eraldo Coil, please share it. Until next time…


	2. Distance

"checkmate again, Misa-Misa, but that one was startlingly close." Ryuzaki began to reset the carved wooden chess pieces, but Misa sighed, and stood up.

"we've been playing chess for three hours, Ryuzaki. I'm starting to get bored."

"fair enough, but here's a counterpoint. We've only had three matches. Each lasted roughly an hour, and I beat most people in ten minutes."

"so you're going easy on me."

"actually, no. You're just that good." Ryuzaki stopped rearranging the pieces, and jumped out of his crouching position, onto the floor of the plane. "I admit, your offensive strategy is lacking, but you're astoundingly careful."

Misa shrugged as she looked out the window of L's private jet. "so?"

"chess is a parallel to military strategy. Fighting to the death. The idea is to outwit your opponent, and since you're good at it, what I'm saying is that you're smart."

"not as smart as you, though."

"no one is, except perhaps Light-kun. Have you ever played chess before?"

"not really, but I knew how."

"so consider this, almost anyone else but a genius would be a pushover to you."

"huh." Misa continued to watch the clouds. She was obviously still suffering from Light's confessions. No matter how sweetly you say it, telling someone you were using them and exploiting their emotions will never leave them cheerful. "what country are we over right now?"

"a small rural nation called Bhutan."

Misa went to L's laptop, and searched "Bhutan" online, pulling up the Wikipedia page in Japanese and scanning through it. Then she found it on a map, between Japan and Italy. She groaned, seeing how far apart the two countries were. "ugh, I'm so bored!"

Ryuzaki's eyes widened as a brilliant idea came to him. "I'd like to try something." he turned the laptop toward himself, and brought up the files for his three suspects in the murder case. "who of these do you think is the murderer?"

"what? Are you nuts, I'll never figure this… out…" she leaned forward. "do you have files for the murder victims and crime scenes?"

"glad you asked." Ryuzaki took the laptop back for a moment, and opened the requested files. "anything else you need?"

"yeah, do any of the three suspects know each other?"

"these two, Leonardo Marcolo and Benicio Gevanni, have a criminal past together. They robbed a convenience store as teenagers, only Benicio was caught."

"huh. Okay, put together a map of the murder scenes, and the residences of all three suspects. I'm getting a coffee."

Ryuzaki did as she asked, then watched her return with a steaming cup of his favourite coffee. She sat comfortably in front of the laptop and next to him, and sipped. "ha! Perfect! Ryuzaki, look at this. All these kills are in an almost perfect circle around Marcolo's residence, and they all died of stab wounds consistent with a switchblade."

"so you think it was him?"

"nope!" she laughed. "in the convenience store robbery, Leonardo threatened the cashier with a kitchen butcher knife. I don't think he owns a switchblade… and these kills are too perfectly arranged around his house, it's like a bullseye! On top of that, seven bodies were found near water. If it was Leonardo, he would dump the bodies in the water, so someone is intentionally framing him, and I know who it was. Benicio Gevanni is trying to get payback, but he's being clever about it. I bet if we checked Benicio's spending, we'll find that he bought a switchblade recently, and he's been using up a lot of gas driving around Venice. He lives on the other side of the city, in a condo. Even this was probably planned to make himself look even more innocent. He's obsessive-compulsive, he's been planning this for years."

"astounding. That's exactly what I was thinking…" Ryuzaki said, and admitted calmly, "I had already figured this out, but I wanted to see what you would do in my position. You certainly didn't disappoint, and even the files you requested were exactly what I looked for when I got the case. Granted, I thought it would help you kill more time, but you breezed through it as fast as I did."

"so I'm as smart as you?" Misa asked smugly.

"not quite. This is one of the easier cases I've taken, I chose it for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted a quick change from the Kira case, and secondly, it gives me an excuse to be in Venice. Still, if you decide to help with some other cases, you might prove to be my equal, yes."

"let's not go that far," Misa replied, echoing her own words to him in Japan.

"fair enough. We still have a month for you to decide if you can tolerate working with me. I admit, I'm childish, I hate to lose, and since I've never once been outsmarted, I have a bit of an ego. If you can stand that, then you and I might make an excellent team."

X

"it's so beautiful," Misa said as she stood on the balcony of Ryuzaki's penthouse, high above the streets and canals of Venice. "you didn't have to do this, Ryuzaki, so thank you. Uh, Ryuzaki?"

The world's greatest detective was holding up a Death Note with a thumb and forefinger. Rem had told him that a piece of paper from it would make a shinigami visible, but not restore memories, even temporarily. He tore out a small piece, and held it out to Misa. "so you can see the shinigami, if you so choose."

"you actually kept the notebook…" she cuffed him on the back of the head. "what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that the Kira case might not be over, since there is a whole world of death gods who carry these around. Evidence against any additional Kiras is invaluable."

"well, I am kind of curious about this shinigami." Misa took the scrap of paper, and blinked. When her eyes opened, she saw Ryuk standing behind Ryuzaki. "wow… you don't look like Rem at all. What's your name?"

"I'm Ryuk. We've met before."

"of course. My shinigami was Rem, and you were with Light, I guess."

"yeah. I'm just here for the show, and the apples." To accentuate this, Ryuk devoured a yellow one. "mm. Juicy."

"Ryuzaki." Watari's voice came over the speakers on Ryuzaki's laptop. "for the past two hours, people have been dropping dead of heart attacks in Venice. Only one, Benicio Gevanni, had any kind of criminal background. The current total of deaths is fourteen… hold on, make that fifteen. The mayor of Venice just died."

"well, then. At least it's not another Kira. This new murderer seems to be looking for attention, and somehow, he or she knows that Misa and I were investigating Gevanni. I had really hoped we were done with all this."

"so let me get this straight," Misa muttered. "some guy has found a Death Note, and he's using it to show off?"

"my guess is an inferiority complex. He plans to be caught, but only after he's killed everyone famous he can think of. He's started with Venetian celebrities and political figures, he wants us to know where he is." Ryuzaki held up his own Death Note. "it's truly disturbing, how these things always bring out the worst in people."

"well, you haven't gone all evil and murderous, have you?" Misa held up the scrap of paper, imitating the way Ryuzaki held things. "you're faring better than me and Light, and definitely better than Higuchi."

"for now," Ryuk added, and laughed evilly.

Ryuzaki ignored the dark comment, and continued, "we have a decisive advantage. We know what we're up against, and unlike this cheap Kira, we don't intend to lose. We can probably find him by the end of the week. The catch is, he'll likely go after world leaders and famous actors soon. So, we'll reason with him. Watari, hack into the five most watched television channels in Venice, as well as the three most popular radio stations, satellite or otherwise. Patch in the L insignia and voice, if he wants attention, he's got it."

X

"people of Venice, I am L. I'm sure the mass murderer roaming these streets knows exactly who I am, and I would like to talk to you, villain, directly now. I know why and how you are killing people. I will bring you to justice, so congratulations. You have my attention, and thanks to this broadcast, you now have the world's attention. A piece of advice, however: with the world watching you, you'd best put on a show they'll like. Killing everyone you see on television will quickly get stale."

The current Kira watched the broadcast, chuckling for no apparent reason. "oh, this is getting good. Insanity is so entertaining…"

X

"can't you be normal for one night, Ryuzaki?" Misa huffed. "look at yourself. We come to the finest restaurant in Venice, because you asked, and here you are, barefoot, crouching on the seat, in jeans and a white shirt, and the first thing you order is… tiramisu?"

"it's Italian cake. But yes, I understand, I'm making a scene." After a moment of hesitation, Ryuzaki carefully lowered himself into a sitting position, and put his feet on the floor, sliding them into his sneakers. "better?"

"yes, thank you… oh, it's here. Ravioli ala parmagiana, e tomata, e… uh… I don't know how to pronounce the rest. Ah, never mind. As awkward as it is, this is a date. Let's get to know each other."

"my name is L Lawliet, and you're the first person since Watari to know that. I've been a detective since I was five, and I became L when I was nine. That was shortly after completing my jiu-jitsu training… ah, never mind."

"what about Eraldo Coil, and Deneuve?" Misa took a bite of ravioli, then leaned forward to hear the story she had been curious about since hearing about these two other aliases.

"Eraldo Coil was from right here in Venice. When I was fifteen, he was hired by the local mafia to find me so they could kill me. I deduced his true identity and location, and had him arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. About a year later, the poor man was killed in prison, for failing the don. The fact I am alive is the direct reason he is dead. Deneuve was trickier, a genius detective from Paris whom I met when I was eighteen. He's still alive, somewhere in rural France, and after I outsmarted him, he relinquished his alias to me and retired. A good man, Deneuve. I respected him, and he feared and respected me."

"huh… somehow, I had a vision of three detectives shooting at each other somewhere in New York. Hey, am I going to get a cool alias?"

"if you want one, think of one."

"hold on. What about Ryuzaki? Did you get that alias from someone?"

Ryuzaki took a bite of cake, and nodded. "his name was Beyond Birthday, a former apprentice of mine turned serial killer. I locked him up, and he was killed by Kira. By Light Yagami…"

"you obviously feel bad about it. I'm sorry."

"thank you, Misa. He was like a son to me."

Misa picked at her dinner, shaken. "I just realized, Light never once thanked me for anything. Oh, God, do you think it might have been me? I might have killed Beyond. How horrible is that?"

Ryuzaki said calmly, and very slowly, "you never killed anyone. The second Kira did, and as of now, you are not the second Kira. You are innocent, Misa. Cherish that, and never forget it."

Misa smiled. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're actually really sweet, Ryuzaki."

"you are what you eat, I suppose." Misa giggled, bringing a smile to Ryuzaki's face again. "you have such a nice laugh."

Misa blushed, still smiling. "don't go all sappy on me, Ryuzaki."

"you said yourself it's a date."

"it's a first date, if you really want to play that card. Anyway, let's talk about the case for a minute. How are we going to find this guy?"

"if he has the combination of mental disorders I think he does, most of it will be on file. We could go the primitive way, and search the houses of every person in Venice with this psychological profile. Or, if he tested the notebook on a neighbor, we could cross-reference recent heart attacks with the residences of our suspects, which would likely single out this new Kira."


	3. Insane

"got him," Misa said proudly. She showed the file to Ryuzaki, and added, "he's the only one in Venice who matches the psychological profile you deduced. Girardo Antovanni."

Ryuzaki, hands in his pockets, bent down to look closer at the laptop screen. "so you are our new Kira, Girardo… not for long."

Misa briefly got the impression of a bird with wings folded at his sides, which faded as Ryuzaki straightened as best he could. "so what are we going to do?" she asked.

"the police can move in quickly, but we can move in quicker. Also, we have to confiscate and destroy the Death Note. Its existence cannot become public, if it were, then anyone who wanted to kill would come after one. So, we're going to Girardo's house right now. Please take this…" Ryuzaki handed her a cell phone, "and call the police chief, whom I have on speed dial. The voice changer is built in, so for the next few minutes, you are L."

"where are you going?"

"just getting my keys," Ryuzaki replied, and went searching around the hotel room.

"I didn't even know you had a car… never mind." Misa called the chief's personal cell phone.

The voice that came through the phone was robotic, probably a mechanical translation from Italian to Japanese. If that were true, it probably translated her Japanese into Italian. But L wouldn't need that… "Chief Francesco Cordoni, this is L. I have the identity of the serial killer who appears to have Kira's power, and I'm ready to apprehend him now. The problem is that I know how Kira kills, and this information must not be made public in any way, so it's crucial that I confiscate the murder weapon. I'll deliver the killer to you, probably today." Misa hung up before the chief could answer, and turned to Ryuzaki, who was rummaging through a suitcase. Her suitcase. "the keys are in your right-hand jeans pocket," she said cheerfully. Ryuzaki patted his pocket, reached in, and pulled out the keys by the keyring. "you were stalling, you knew exactly where your keys were. You set this phone up specifically for me to use, it was just another test."

"which you passed with flying colours, even down to the fact you hung up before he could argue. So, let's go catch Kira… again…"

X

"no way. No way!" Misa stared, slack-jawed, at the brand-new Lamborghini Murcielago whose headlights flared to life at the signal from Ryuzaki. "you bought a Lamborghini?"

"if it's not destroyed tonight, you can have it. I have plenty of spares." Misa turned her stare from the car to Ryuzaki, still silent. "oh, you don't understand. I'm a billionaire, so these things are trifles to me."

"I didn't even know you had a driver's license," she eventually managed.

"what makes you think I have a license?" Ryuzaki replied, but added quickly, "I have one, don't worry." He opened the driver's side door, and hopped in, forced to sit normally in order to drive.

After about an hour driving, Ryuzaki pulled over in front of an apartment building, and held out a handgun. Hesitantly, Misa took it. "we have no way of knowing whether he has shinigami eyes, so we'll be using helmets like in Japan," Ryuzaki said as he popped the trunk and got out of the car. In a Lamborghini Murcielago, the trunk is in the front, and the engine is behind the seats. He handed Misa a tinted motorcycle helmet, and took one for himself, but didn't put it on. He also took out a taped cardboard box, and buzzed into the building, claiming to be delivering a package to one Girardo Antovanni. The doors unlocked, and Misa followed Ryuzaki into the building. "it works every time," he mumbled. "plus, we can smuggle the notebook out in the box."

"is it always like this?" Misa asked.

"actually, no. I more often work behind a laptop, but now I actually have to be present at the scene. I suppose I'll have to get used to it if this keeps up, because there will be a lot of notebooks to keep track of, and destroy. The shinigami race seems to be interested in our world now, and that's not likely to change for a while. Dropping Death Notes here for their own amusement will get tired and old if we make it clear that their Kiras will always be caught. The quicker we solve these cases, the better."

"there's no way it'll always be this easy. Remember how long it took you to catch Light?"

"yes, but then, I didn't know what I was up against. Now I do." Ryuzaki fell silent as they closed in on Antovanni's apartment, and with his helmet on and gun at the ready, he kicked the door open. "Antovanni! Come quietly, or we will shoot to kill!"

"uh, Ryuzaki? He's not here… but that was pretty cool." Misa lowered her weapon, and spotted a black notebook on his dining table. "look, it's right there!"

"hold on, Misa. If you touch that Death Note, your memories will return, and it might even be rigged to some kind of trap."

"oh, right. How about we just burn it right here?"

"that could still trigger a trap, so we'll check it first." Ryuzaki stepped forward, and Misa backed away. After looking at it from a few angles, then casting a glance to the television on the wall, Ryuzaki picked up the notebook, to Misa's shock. "ah, here we are, a pull wire. That TV will come on in a moment."

Girardo's face came on screen, and he said, "now that I have your attention, what you are holding is a Death Note, a notebook that can kill people. Or rather, it could. I have all the original pages with me, meaning the deaths will continue. I'm fleeing the city as we speak, and I hope you give chase. This, gentlemen, is going to be fun."

"I agree with this guy," Ryuk said cheerfully, and opened Antovanni's fridge in search of apples.

"what an idiot," Misa said as she picked up a printed file with pictures of Antovanni's car and license plates. "I guess this is where we involve the police," she added, noting that Antovanni had written something vulgar in Italian on the file. She flipped open the phone Ryuzaki had given her, and called the police again, this time the station itself. "this is L. Kira is attempting to flee the city in a red Kia Soul with a license plate saying FUS 196. Apprehend him if you can." Misa hung up, as Ryuzaki headed for the door. "wait, Ryuzaki, how are we going to find him?"

"Watari," he said simply, and continued down the hall, back to the exit and the Lamborghini. Misa shrugged, and followed him. He turned the key, summoning the roar of the V12 engine, then tapped a screen on the dashboard with his finger, bringing up a map of Venice with a red dot blinking on it. "Watari is already following Antovanni, all we have to do is follow Watari." Ryuzaki headed for the red dot, which marked a tracking device on Watari's helicopter. "he's heading north…"

"he's trying to get out of Venice, to where the ground is solid. There's too many rivers and canals here, he has to keep turning." Misa slid the map northward, showing the flat ground north of Venice.

"so do we," Ryuzaki replied. "or maybe not…" he added as he sighted Antovanni's car.

"Ryuzaki… tell me you're not planning to…"

"I am, but not yet." Antovanni was turning around a corner, to take a bridge across the canal, but Ryuzaki simply picked up speed. "now."

"have you ever done this before?"

"not across a canal, no."

"this is insane! You're insane!" Misa was panicking, looking around for something to hold on to, to brace herself against the surely imminent crash.

"here we go," Ryuzaki said calmly, and Misa screamed. The car somehow jumped upward, over the railings, and landed soundly on the other side of the canal, at which point the car turned violently ninety degrees, and Ryuzaki added, "it's best you unbuckle your seat belt, and get out of the car as soon as we've stopped moving. There's a forty-eight percent chance Antovanni will try to bulldoze past us."

"this is crazy!"

"this is Venice." Ryuzaki floored it, and slammed the brakes as soon as he was at the end of the bridge. He was blocking the exit of the lane Antovanni was speeding across. He and Misa quickly ditched the car, leaving Antovanni to make his decision. The red Kia came to a stop just inches from the Lamborghini's flank. On the headset built into his helmet, Ryuzaki asked, "Watari, do you have your rifle up there?"

"yes, but I don't see Antovanni."

"shoot the tires out anyway."

Watari did, and Ryuzaki then checked the seats of the Kia. "it's empty. Antovanni doesn't have any other car, so where is he?"

"he might have jacked someone else's."

"if he did, and he was controlling this one by remote, then he's a lot smarter than we realized."

"I'm gonna move the Lamborghini, before we get arrested," Misa said carefully, and went back to the sports car, revving the engine before parking on the side of the road.

"Misa, wait! It's a trick!" Ryuzaki jumped out of the way as the Kia's engine roared to life again, and sped away. "damn it, he got us."

"what just happened?" Misa asked over the headset.

"he didn't wire a remote control. That would take way too much hand-eye coordination, to drive two cars at once. He's in a compartment somewhere in the Kia, likely seeing the road through a camera on the grille. We can still catch him, Watari shot the tires!"

"okay, get in!" Ryuzaki ran as quickly as he could to the Lamborghini, and shut the door. Before he could even buckle his seatbelt, Misa hit the gas. She laughed giddily. "wow, this thing is fast!"

Ryuzaki settled himself into the passenger seat, and began, "if you do exactly as I say over the next thirty seconds, we will catch Antovanni twice as quickly. Follow behind him, tailgate him, but do not attempt anything." She did as he suggested, and Ryuzaki added, "good. Now, get out from behind him, and parallel your front wheels with his rear wheels. Perfect, now drive into him."

"oh, I've seen this on TV!" Misa rammed into Antovanni's Kia, and watched him spin out. "that's a Pit maneuver, right?" PIT: Precision Immobilization Technique.

"yes, and perfectly executed. Now, let's go arrest him."

"yeah, but where is he?"

Ryuzaki shrugged. "somewhere in that car."

"and how the hell did we jump that canal? It was like we had a ramp."

"a rampless jump mechanism built into the suspension. I won't lie, I'm not entirely sure how it works, but it always does. And, as promised, since the Lamborghini isn't a wreck, you can have it." Ryuzaki exited the Lamborghini, and knocked on the door of the upside-down Kia. "Antovanni, you can come out willingly, or we can dismantle the vehicle to find you," he said in Italian.

"piss off, I have a gun!"

"and I have a helicopter. Can't you hear the rotors? It's over, just give up."

There was silence for a few seconds, then Antovanni opened the door to the hidden cockpit. The seats of the Kia folded away, and the bare floor of the vehicle opened in two parts, revealing Antovanni, laying prone in front of a small screen. "a helmet too? That's not fair!"

"you decided to play this game, but you didn't write the rules. I did."

"yeah, well let's raise the stakes!" Antovanni aimed a pistol at Ryuzaki's head. "I bet my Death Note, that when I pull this trigger, your brains paint the asphalt!"

"hm." Ryuzaki, without warning, wrenched the gun to the left of his head, and hauled Antovanni out of the car by his arm. He pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket, and locked them on Antovanni's wrists, leaving him facedown on the pavement. "Girardo Antovanni, you are under arrest for the pointless murders of twenty-six innocents. You have the right to scream, when you burn in Hell."

Ryuzaki turned, and saw Misa running toward him. She tried to hug him, but ended up tackling him by accident. "that was so awesome! I didn't know you were such a badass… oh, sorry." She climbed off him, and helped him up, blushing. She felt her cheeks tingle and grow hot, suddenly grateful for the concealing helmet.

"I'm… badass? That's as much of a shock as finding out I'm a pervert."

"yeah, sorry about that too."

X

"chocolate." Ryuzaki threw a small, round chocolate into the air, and bit it when it fell into his mouth. The caramel inside was cold and sweet. "chocolate." The second one was filled with green mint icing. "oh. I'm sorry if I seem not to care, I'm always like this after solving a case."

Misa shrugged, and plucked a chocolate from the little white plate. "chocolate." She tossed it into the air, and frowned when it landed in her hair. "let me try again..." She fished it out of her hair, and threw it skyward again. This time, she caught it with her teeth, and grinned, before biting down. It was filled with chocolate syrup. "you know, this is a great stress reliever."

"you're stressed?"

"not really, but now I'm relaxing even more." She paused. "how many Kiras do you think we'll have to catch?"

"a lot… chocolate." Ryuzaki popped this one into his mouth, and crunched through the hard caramel inside. "but this isn't an impossible task. Eventually, these shinigami will stop giving Death Notes to psychopaths, because they won't find it interesting anymore."

"so, it'll take a while."

Ryuzaki shrugged. "at least we won't be bored."


	4. Revelations

_And I looked, and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them… to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth_. – Revelation 6:8

A/N: there's going to be first-person POVs in this one, something I haven't tried before. Thanks to SasusakuIslovelyy, I Am The Real L, and hunablawliet for the reviews so far, and I assure you, I will keep writing.

X

Ryuzaki crouched in front of a flatscreen TV, watching the news in Venice. It was all so bland and repetitive, until suddenly, the screen was filled with snow, and replaced with a black insignia on a white background, not unlike the L logo Ryuzaki used, but these letters formed a word. Kira.

"people of the world, I am Kira." the voice was in English, and it was computer-generated. "I am not the first Kira, but I am here to continue the quest for a perfect new world. I have studied the original Kira's strategies, and I am confident I know how to avoid his mistakes. Starting today, criminals will die, all over the world, and this will continue… until there is no crime."

"well, at least this one seems sane," Ryuzaki muttered.

"furthermore, I would like the three detectives L, Eraldo Coil, and Deneuve to stop trying to catch me immediately. At this point, I can only ask, and tell the three of you that chasing me will only put innocent lives in danger. I have no problem sacrificing my peace of mind to ensure that this world becomes a utopia, so I will kill you if necessary, but I truly believe you can put your skills to better use. Help me find and eliminate criminals, and we will take the first steps toward a glorious future."

"bleh," Ryuzaki stuck out his tongue, and dropped a candy on it.

"it is God's will that evil everywhere is deleted."

Ryuzaki sucked his tongue back in, and leaned forward. "oh, now that's interesting."

"the world is becoming a better place already, but it's not enough. Soon, no one will intentionally hurt anyone else. The world will be perfect, and under God's golden sun, we will see a golden age. But first, the cancer of society must be amputated. I, Kira, will delete all evil!"

"shut up." The screen went black, but the TV remained on, and the new voice continued, "Kira, I have faced your kind firsthand before. I knew the original Kira, and it's because of me that he's gone. You are no better than him, in fact, you are worse. I am Eraldo Coil, although of course this is an alias. I know how you kill. I also know that you, L and Deneuve, are watching this, and I implore you both to unite with me. We must not allow this madman to decide people's ultimate fates. Yes indeed, Kira, you are a madman. You are evil, and I will stop you, alone if I have to."

Misa was standing in the door, watching Eraldo Coil's rant. "I thought you said Eraldo Coil was dead, and you took the name."

"I did. Only a handful of people know that I am actually L and Eraldo Coil. All of these people know that Deneuve is me as well. You know them as the former Kira task force. Of them, there is only one who would choose to take on Kira again, and with good reason… Watari, hack through Kira's and Eraldo's signals, put the L insignia on the screen."

"as you wish."

Ryuzaki went to the microphone beside his laptop, and as the L logo came onscreen, he replied in Japanese, "hello, Light-kun. I see you've been busy. We will meet soon, I'm in Venice. Deduce the rest, and we'll talk." With control of every television in the world wired into his laptop, Ryuzaki cut the broadcast off, and every screen on Earth went blank.

"it was LIGHT?" Misa practically howled in fury. "no! that's not fair, this is our case!"

"hardly. We hadn't even gathered any evidence, or found a suspect, we had only seen the broadcast, along with everyone in front of a TV in the world. Besides, don't you miss him at all?"

"no way," she growled. "if I see Light Yagami, I'll kill him."

"ooh, scary," Ryuk commented, and cackled, before biting into an apple.

"well, I can't let you kill someone, sorry." Ryuzaki met her seething glare with his blank, almost dead-black eyes, and she sighed, knowing he was absolutely serious.

X

Ryuzaki's POV

_I would never admit it, but there are times when I wish I was more normal. True, I know and accept that L cannot be L Lawliet, a normal person, but others may not realize or accept it. Misa, for example. What would a normal person do in this situation? A normal person smarter than most universities, trained in more martial arts than I've had birthdays, and who happens to be the greatest detective in the world… but that's not normal. It's not normal that I actually have to think hard about this…_

_Mm. Truffle. Oh, where was I? Oh yes, trying to be normal. At least I am a genius, which helps. I have come to a conclusion that shakes me to my core. Actually, several conclusions. The first is a theory I have come up with, a philosophical law that goes like this: the most outrageous, irrational, and desperate actions can be explained by the simplest of sentences. _

_The second revelation is actually an example of this, and here it is: I am going to risk the Kira case, and possibly my own life, by potentially forcing Light Yagami to work separately from me "and Deneuve." The reason, the simple sentence to explain my actions to come, is among the most normal and most human reasons of all. I will do this because I love Misa Amane. _

_Am I really out of candy? Hm. I think I understand why Mello burns through it so quickly, it's because the sugar rush from chocolate seems to briefly increase one's mental capability, but once you start eating, the supply doesn't last long. Mello is likely trying to outwit Near on some English case, right now, and eating chocolate at a ridiculous rate… _

"Ryuzaki! Can you even hear me in there?" Misa. Just as I'm about to try being normal, I realize she is sitting right next to me, and if I 'act normal,' I'm liable to let my plan slip. That simply won't do.

"I can hear you, Misa." Even I know that sounds cold, so I add, "sorry."

"it's two in the morning, and you're sitting in front of a soccer game in Brazil. What's wrong with you?"

Anyone who believes me to be a robot would be proven wrong if they saw the stunned look on my face right now.

"I was… thinking," I say as I reach for the remote, to turn off the TV. To my shock and hers, my hand misses the remote completely, instead brushing her bare thigh. Damn those miniskirts she favors so much! As my heart rate doubles, I jump up, and quickly apologize. Thankfully Misa realizes I was going for the remote, and I am spared what would have surely been a hard slap.

She turns off the TV, and we sit in total darkness, or rather, she sits and I crouch. "Ryuzaki, are you okay? You're never this jumpy, and I mean never. You don't even blink when people punch you in the face, and you've looked more serial killers in the eye than I'd like to think about. You can't just shrug it off, so tell me, what's wrong?"

Oh, no. Here comes my human side. Ryuk's eyes bug out of his head as I turn to Misa and kiss her, purely on impulse. Her eyes are wider than I had thought possible when I pull back. And then, I give her a line that sounds pathetic, even to me. "nothing is wrong. I was just trying to decide if I could get away with doing that."

The seconds tick away like hours, as I await a slap in the face, perhaps a kick in the groin, but it doesn't come. She just stares at me, with Ryuk's god-awful laugh in the ambience. That stare is completely ambiguous, even I can't make sense of it, so imagine my shock when she leans forward and kisses me back.

X

Given my caffeine-packed diet, I don't need much sleep, so five hours does the trick quite nicely. The unusual thing about last night, at least the part where I slept, was that I laid down, rather than crouching in an office chair. It must be the first time in two years that I've slept in a bed, and I admit, it feels good. It feels normal.

Am I wearing pajamas? What happened last night? I always sleep in my clothes! I look around my bedroom, which up until tonight had not been truly used, and find a pair of jeans. They're neatly folded, fresh from my suitcase, with a pair of socks on top. I still despise socks, I absolutely hate them, so I toss them aside, and change into the jeans. I'm about to look for a shirt when I realize I'm wearing one that I didn't know existed. It's an old grey muscle shirt, and I always, invariably wear long-sleeve white shirts. Where this came from is beyond me, but I can assume it's not Misa's, for three reasons. One, I'm wearing it, two, it fits me, and three, although I can't be certain what happened last night, I can be sure what didn't. There is an absolute zero percent chance that Misa removed her shirt in my room, at any point at all last night.

A knock comes from the door, and the last voice I want to hear right now comes from behind it. "Mr. Hideki Ryuga, it's room service." It is assuredly not room service. I head for the door, and open it to reveal Light Yagami, in a full business suit. "Ryuzaki… well, you look different."

"I feel different," I respond, and step aside, letting 'Eraldo Coil' step into mine and Misa's penthouse suite. "you found me quickly. I assume you spotted Misa and I on television, and traced the Lamborghini's license plates to this hotel. It's obvious I would choose the penthouse, to…" to impress Misa? I suppose it's true, but I was actually about to say it. "anyway, Light…" he had walked further into the room, with me following, and as he turns, I get a great deal of satisfaction kicking him in the face. Better I do it than Misa, because she might use a lethal weapon, but I admit I enjoyed it. "don't even bother fighting back, let's just say it was for your own good."

"Light, I'm gonna kill you!"

"Misa, wait!" I step in her way, and she immediately stops charging at him and me with a butcher knife. "please, put the knife down. If you want, I can kick him again, and we can catch Kira without him, but I still can't let you murder anyone."

Misa looks down at her weapon of choice, then up at me again, and laughs. "phase one, terrify him, complete," she whispers, and winks. Light is oblivious to this, still backed against the wall behind me, but he relaxes slightly when the knife clatters to the floor, and gapes in surprise when Misa kisses me, again. This one is a long, passionate kiss, and it catches me by surprise as much as Light. At this point, I've realized that phase two of her plan is this kiss, but I'm perfectly fine with whatever plan this is, so I kiss her back.

Misa slowly backs away, and glares past me at Light. Very carefully, Light asks, "what the hell is going on?"

"Misa hates your guts, I'm dating her, and it turns out she's a genius."

"should I be sleeping with a kitchen knife or something?" he asks, now slightly less terrified. "is she really going to try to kill me?"

"I hope not." In truth, I know she won't, but Misa wants Light terrified, so he will be terrified.

Misa adds cheerfully, "you go ahead and sleep with a knife, Light, but you remember, as you watch your bedroom door, that Ryuzaki will be sleeping with…" she giggles, and it doesn't take me long to realize what she just hinted at. She picks up the knife, and wipes the blade dramatically on her shirt, then tosses it on the ground in front of Light.

After Misa has left, Light wipes the sweat from his forehead, and says to me, "well, Ryuzaki, you sure know how to pick 'em."

I nestle my hands into my pockets, and reply calmly, "welcome back to the Kira case. Now, have you seen any of my white shirts? I don't even know where this one came from."

"what happened to her? I knew she was a little strange, but this is dangerous. She could kill me… frankly, I'm more scared of her than Kira."

"firstly, you'll know you're safe if you wake up tomorrow. Secondly, how much do you remember?"

Light looks down at his immaculately polished shoes. "you mean, how much my dad let slip and had to explain."

"yes, that."

"I know I was Kira. I know about the Death Notes, how they work, and I know how I used Misa to try and kill you."

"to be fair, she did not become a second Kira under your guidance. She met you after she had started killing."

"it doesn't matter to me. I caused so much death, Ryuzaki… I'm glad I can't remember it. Now that I'm not Kira, I know I have to try to make things right, to stop these killers from now on. That said, I don't much care if I'm arrested again, so I'll explain right away, I completely support the killing of heinous criminals with a Death Note, even now." when I say nothing to stop him, he continues. "killing either criminals on death row, or those who evade capture and continue to cause suffering. That's not murder, but this? What Kira's doing? He's slaughtering petty thieves and con artists to try and kill every criminal on earth. That's sick. I understand his motives, because I once shared them, but I know he has to be stopped."

X

_My original plan was to simply kick Light in the face and slam the door, to satisfy Misa's desire to see him suffer, while also protecting my friend from being killed. Granted, if we worked separately, we would both be in greater danger from Kira, but that was a risk I was willing to take. Now, the plan seems to have changed. Misa clearly still holds a grudge against Light, but I wouldn't give her more than a 1% chance of actually murdering him. _Quietly, I slurp my coffee, and scan further down the email Watari has sent me. _So it's arrived. Very good, I was beginning to worry Kira might track us down. _When I announced to Light that I was in Venice, I neglected the possibility that Kira might speak Japanese, or even be from Japan. So, if Light figured out my location, it's possible that Kira could do the same. Also, the task force headquarters I had built for the Kira case was overkill. It's currently sitting empty in Japan, awaiting renovations to convert it into a hotel, so this time I decided on something a little more practical, and as a bonus, it's mobile. _My experience with these things is relatively low, but I know how to keep it from falling apart, and it won't take long before I figure out how to pilot it…_

"hey, Ryuzaki, whatcha lookin at?"

"you know, you move like a ninja," I mumble as I look up into Misa's cheerful eyes. She's sitting across the table from me, but she tries to lean forward and peek over the screen of the laptop. That simply won't do, so as I close the email, I explain, "it's a surprise."

"like, a Lamborghini kind of surprise?"

"bigger." the look on her face is priceless. "but as I said, it's a surprise, and I won't spoil it now, not with it almost here."

"ooh. So you've been planning this for a while, whatever it is, it's mobile, and it's bigger than a Lamborghini. Huh… when does it arrive?"

"tomorrow. The Lamborghini only has two seats, so I'll take you there and leave Light here… I probably shouldn't blindfold you, though, so you'll figure it out as we head there."

"ah, so it's mobile but it can't come here. And you already have a jet… is it a boat?"

I sigh dramatically. "I made that too easy."

"just a little. Can I see it?"

"yes, but tomorrow."

X

Light's POV

Who the hell knew Ryuzaki played the billionaire card like Bruce Wayne? Right now, he's driving Misa around in a Lamborghini, headed for the marina. He claimed it was a surprise, but he left his laptop on, almost like he was mocking me. When I woke the computer from his L screensaver, which I admit is kind of cool, I found an email from Watari packed with pictures of a huge yacht. When I Googled the name "Beneteau Oceanis 58" what came up was the thing's official website. It's 58 feet long, with a motor, sails, and solar panels. The most common model has three bedrooms, but I have a feeling Ryuzaki went with the two-bedroom model. Aside from more storage space, it gives Misa the obvious choice of sleeping with one of us. Given how she kissed him, I think I know who she'll pick, and I'm honestly not jealous, but I'm worried about the flipside. We'll be on a boat, in the open ocean, and I'll be safe from Kira but not Misa. That worries me.

I lean back in Ryuzaki's chair, and cross one leg over the other as I sip a coffee. I watch the on-site video of the boat, and damn, it's huge. The upper deck is almost all teak hardwood, and the living space inside is bigger than most houses. It's got two steering wheels outside, connected together, so when the boat tilts as it turns, you can switch from the wheel on the low side to the wheel on the high side. The back of the boat is just above the water, and it's called a swimming platform, easier to dive off and climb up onto.

I compared the pictures in the email to the ones on the website, and he ordered it fully loaded. As I drain my coffee, I begin to relax as I remember what Ryuzaki said. The fact I'm still alive after a couple of days means Misa probably won't kill me. That means I can focus on Kira…

X

Ryuzaki's POV

Misa is like a kid on Christmas, and how could she not be? This is by far the most impressive boat I've ever seen. True enough, it's now the Kira case HQ, but it's also a luxury yacht.

"this is so awesome!" she gushes, and hugs me as I step on board. The scent of her strawberry perfume is intoxicating, and I briefly wonder if she knows how much I love strawberries. As Watari hands me the keys, he tips his hat, then makes for the wharf. I unlock the door to the cabin, as Misa runs to the prow of the boat. The door slides open, and I take the first steps down the stairs into the expansive cabin. There's a GPS map system on board, in fact, it's a full navigator's station.

Misa jumps down into the seating area outside, and comes scrambling down the stairs. "so did you go with this to impress me, or what?" she whistles. "this thing is like a floating house."

"I actually had this being built as a mobile headquarters for myself and Watari. I've learned how to fly helicopters and jets, I can drive, I've even figured out the controls of a train, but that was an unusual case. All that I haven't done is mastered sailing, so this is actually something I've been wanting to try for a while."

Misa suddenly realizes what I've just explained, since this was intended for only two people, there are only two beds. She looks at me, then past me at the master bedroom. There's roughly a 93% chance we'll be sleeping together from now on, and that fact isn't lost on her. Her look of surprise slowly turns to a grin of satisfaction. "this is going to be a fun case."


	5. Threats

A/N: thanks to I Am The Real L for another review. The phrase "panda detective" caught my eye. I never really noticed, but that's pretty apt. A guest, "LxMisa," also left a gratifying review.

Also, a few more things to say. Firstly, the Beneteau Oceanis 58 is a real boat, and it's pretty awesome. Check it out, the thing is huge. Second, there are age differences between this story and Death Note canon, starting and hopefully ending with this chapter.

Being a Light fan and a Kira supporter, it's taken me a while to sum up why I'm writing this story. I guess the best way to put it is that Light Yagami is a cold, almost robotic person, kind of like L, but you know, meaner. These are great qualities for Kira, indeed, even a god of the New World, but not for a human. I figure Misa is better off paired with Ryuzaki, because he actually cares about her. So, here we have Ivory Tower…

X

Ryuzaki's POV

"to be clear, I'm not trying to buy your affection with all this," I mumble during a break between kisses with Misa.

"you're smart enough to know I'm not making out with you because we're in a yacht," she replies, and kisses me again. "have you ever kissed a girl before?"

"aside from you… well, there were two. One turned out to be an assassin, sent to kill Eraldo Coil…" I kiss her, and close my eyes, which isn't something I do often. "the other was an assassin sent to kill Deneuve, and technically, they both kissed me, so my love life hasn't gone well. Why do you ask?"

"because…" she pulls back and takes a deep breath, then kisses me again. "you're so damn good at it."

"am I really? That's… interesting…"

My cell phone rings, and I almost curse into Misa's strawberry-flavoured lips, but I haven't cursed since 'Damn you, Kira.' it's a habit I hope to completely eliminate. "hello?"

"L, this is Eraldo Coil… there's a bomb in the closet!"

"then get out of the hotel room. Kira wouldn't risk innocent lives for no reason, so it's likely the blast won't reach past the room. I'm on my way back to deal with it."

X

Light's POV

As I look down at the locked briefcase marked with Shinigami writing, I realize why Ryuzaki wanted a mobile base. There's only one thing that could be in this case… a bomb.

Even as most of my mind is panicking, trying to figure out how to dispose of this thing, one small part of me is screaming to look at the bright side: Kira doesn't have the shinigami eyes. If he did, he'd have killed us both with heart attacks. From this, I'm guessing he waited until we were out of the hotel room to sneak in and plant the bomb. This also means that Ryuzaki's theory is correct, Kira is once again Japanese, otherwise he would have come in as room service and not been worried about us deducing his identity, and we know he didn't come in as room service because we've been careful about that. It all fits, because Kira is Japanese, meaning he understood Ryuzaki saying he was in Venice, and deduced L's location the same way I did.

Shakily, I flip open my cell phone, and pray Ryuzaki picks up. "hello?"

"L, this is Eraldo Coil… there's a bomb in the closet!"

Ryuzaki calmly responds, "then get out of the hotel room. Kira wouldn't risk innocent lives for no reason, so it's likely the blast won't reach past the room. I'm on my way back to deal with it."

I can't even express my shock when he hangs up.

X

Kira's POV

Delete! No, not yet… I haven't heard the explosions. Soon, L will arrive at the hotel, and make for his penthouse. He'll get Eraldo Coil out of the room, and attempt to defuse the bomb by removing the blasting cap from the plastic explosives in the briefcase. The problem is, it's not really plastic explosive. It's a piece of moulded plastic, over a few small heat-seeking missiles and their launchers. When L removes what he thinks is a blasting cap, a cylinder of electrically triggered explosive on the end of a wire, what he'll actually be doing is deploying the missiles. The plastic sheath will be mechanically retracted, revealing a collection of cigar-sized missiles, each one of which can and will kill. Most will probably hit L, but if even one reaches Eraldo Coil, they'll both be deleted!

Of course, there is the slim possibility that Eraldo knows how to deactivate a bomb, like I know L does, in which case, only he will die, and I'll have to deal with L and Deneuve separately…

Ryuzaki's POV

Amateur. It borders on pathetic, really, and I can't help but scoff when I open the briefcase, and find what is obviously not putty explosives. It actually looks more like Play-Doh, so I stick a finger down through the "explosive" and feel a series of missiles hidden in a hollow compartment under the plastic. Well, it's original, I'll give him that. Calmly, I bring the shut briefcase over to the small safe that the hotel leaves for its patrons' use. It's solid steel, and it should withstand these missiles, so I shove the briefcase inside, and lock the door. "it's not actually a bomb, it's missiles. They're supposed to deploy when the fake bomb is defused."

"that must have been expensive."

"Kira obviously has a high-paying job."

"well, I guess that helps us figure out…" beep.

"Light, get back!"

"wha…" I jump away from the safe, but Light's too slow. The missiles inside have been activated, probably by a camera, or perhaps it heard our voices. Regardless, they all explode, blowing the safe open. The explosion would have been much bigger if not for the safe, but still, I was wrong, and because of that, Light is knocked on his back, obviously wounded. He groans in shock and pain, and I examine his wounds. They're not lethal, but there are shrapnel cuts across the front of his jacket, and there's a nasty cut on his right cheek which will definitely leave a scar. His eyes are wide open, and he's looking around, bewildered, seemingly unaware of how badly he's hurt.

"Light, can you walk?"

"uh… wha? I…" he forces himself to look down at his already bloody torso, and takes in a deep breath, which won't help. He clears his head, and mumbles, "yeah, help me up." I haul him to his feet, and he yelps in sudden pain, but he manages to stay upright on his own. The room is burning, not badly enough to cause panic yet, but I decide to ring the fire alarm. This'll also help us get away without anyone noticing, including Kira if he's here.

Kira's POV

Finally, they're gone… deleted…

Is that the fire alarm? I suppose it makes sense that someone would hear the explosion and ring it… I'm not worried. My plan was foolproof, and my two greatest threats are dealt with. I'm sure of it.

My Death Note… I carry it around with me, it's too valuable to leave at home, but I can't just pull it out of my bag and resume deleting evil, not until I can confirm that L and Eraldo Coil are dead. Deneuve isn't as much of a threat, as he'll be working alone, without any knowledge of the Death Note. I need to see two bodies. I have to have that much, before I can assume with certainty that I'm safe. Kira can't afford to get cocky.

L's Lamborghini is driving away! Damn it, there's nothing I can do. I can't make the eye deal, and I can't see their faces anyway! Now think, what have I given away? They know I had access to their room, but I didn't kill them in person. That means I don't have shinigami eyes. It's also likely that I'm Japanese, which I am, because I understood L talking to Eraldo Coil in Japanese, and thus deduced which hotel room they'd likely use. This'll help them narrow down their search… but I'll still win! It's God's will that I delete them…

Granted, I confirmed it was their room before planting the briefcase. The TV was on the news channel when I turned it on, there was a large supply of apples in the fridge, and the Death Note… it shouldn't be possible, but I swear I could sense it somewhere in that room. Maybe it's the smell of the shinigami realm on it. This means that L or Eraldo Coil owns a Death Note, and the shinigami might even have been there and seen me…

Ryuzaki's POV

Light is recovering, but it'll be a long time before he can even walk comfortably. Getting into the Lamborghini and into the yacht took a lot out of him, and he's currently laying on his bed with his wounds bandaged, watching the news to track Kira's killings, and waiting for any mention of a rich Japanese person living in Venice. I've assured him many times that his wounds aren't life-threatening, and Misa has come clean about the fact she has no real plans to kill him.

It's been two days, and I've seen to it that L and Eraldo Coil have disappeared into the Mediterranean for a while. Maybe a week or two, long enough that Kira's focus shifts away from us, and back to criminals. As dark as that sounds, it's better than him killing us and continuing unhindered.

I'm crouching in the main bedroom, looking down at my collection of suspects. It's promising, I've narrowed it down to three.

Taro Kagami, age 22, is the son of two rich Japanese parents, and is in a Venetian university, studying law.

Teru Mikami, age 25, is a prosecuting attorney who also happens to be a known Kira worshiper.

And… Naomi… Mitahara… Age 26, also an heiress to her millionaire parents…

Even I make mistakes. The most recent one is looking up when the bathroom door opens, revealing Misa in a set of lacy black lingerie. She's leaning against the door frame, looking down at me, as the Kira case is completely wiped from my mind.

"so tell me, Ryuzaki, am I going to be a good girl tonight… or can we have some more fun before bed?"

X

I admit, it took a lot of willpower to turn down Misa's… offer. The one thing that really stopped us was the fact that we aren't alone on this boat. Light and Ryuk would hear what was going on.

Every morning, Misa dives headfirst into the water, and swims laps around the boat. This morning is no different, except today her bikini is black leather. Only Misa Amane would wear a black leather bikini. Watari is doing a background check on our three suspects, Light is in bed recovering from the explosion, and I am standing at the prow of the boat, with my hands nestled comfortably in my pockets. It's been three weeks since we disappeared.

Misa climbs up onto the swimming platform aft of the ship, and spots me watching. She gives me a wink, then heads inside.

The cell phone in my pocket rings, and I find a text message from Light telling me to watch the news. I find Misa already watching a new broadcast from Kira with him. "…and in this week alone, I have deleted over 200 criminals, 200 people who would otherwise continue to plague society with mindless, heartless evil. But as for you all, people of the world, my message to you now ends, and my message to L and Eraldo Coil begins. I know the two of you are alive. I also know that you think you're closing in on me. You couldn't be more wrong… still, I've been preparing for every possible contingence. I am already making preparations to spread my power to others whom I deem worthy. You know what I mean by that…"

The screen goes black, hisses for a moment, and then a news announcer says in Italian, "thus concludes the message Kira has sent us."

I notice Light sitting up. He turns to look at me, and says, "we have to stop him, now. Before any new Kiras spring up." he grits his teeth, and stands. "let's go get him, today."

"we'll begin with Teru Mikami…" I flip open my phone. "I'll have the police bring him in for questioning, but without a warrant, we can only hope he comes willingly…"

X

Teru's POV

"Teru Mikami."

"so, you're L?" I grin at him. "you're obviously not a cop, and the only other possibility is that you're Eraldo Coil." he crouches in the chair across the table from me, and I briefly look around at the interrogation room. "look. I came here under my own power because I believe in justice. Personally, I side completely with God… Kira. But, I respect this old, outdated system of crime and punishment. You people have been trying for so long to change the world, to delete evil, but you've failed. Does that make you feel miserable? It does for me. I'm a prosecutor, I live for justice, but I've been made obsolete by G… Kira."

"you believe Kira is a god…"

"Kira is God!" I raise my voice, but quickly calm myself. "I understand. You don't share my belief, my religion, but I warn you, don't mock me for it." in my mind, I see a great cathedral, a church dedicated to Kira, our heroic God, but it's a vision most people don't see. L obviously opposes that vision.

"do you know how Kira kills?"

"what kind of question is that? Kira can kill because Kira is God…"

"no, Kira kills with one of these." L holds up a black notebook with English letters on it.

"ha! A book? Come on, you can do better than that." I lean forward in the chair, my hands clenched into fists. "how dare you satirize God with this? God doesn't need a weapon, and he certainly doesn't use a weapon as feeble as a book to kill people around the world. I'm done here." I stand up and make for the door.

"does the word 'delete' mean anything to you?"

"it's what God is doing to evil. It's what he'll do to you. It's what happened to… never mind. All you need to know is that no man, not even you, can defeat God. Goodbye, L. I hope your death isn't particularly agonizing."

Ryuzaki's POV

Misa is gone, and in her place is a cell phone on a table in the lobby. Light is coming back down the hall from the bathroom, so he's safe, but frankly, I don't care. The phone rings, and I pick it up. "hello."

"L? allow me to introduce myself. I am Kira."

For just a brief moment, I panic, but then fear is replaced by an emotion I've never truly felt before… hatred. "what have you done to her?"

"isn't it obvious? I've kidnapped her. I will kill Misa Amane at sunset tonight unless both your death and Eraldo Coil's are confirmed on television by then, in which case, she will live. Those are my terms. Your life, or hers. Keep in mind Eraldo Coil must agree to suicide as well… or perhaps you could murder him." Kira hangs up, and I grit my teeth.

"Ryuzaki, what the hell was that?" Light has obviously figured out that Misa has been kidnapped. What he doesn't know is the real consequences of that fact…

I cannot live without Misa. That is 100% fact, but I also cannot expect Misa to enjoy life in a world ruled by Kira, where I have already died and left her behind. Kira is a sadistic bastard, to force this decision on me, but he's made a mistake. I am the world's greatest detective. There are roughly seven billion people on Earth, and of all of them, Kira picked the absolute worst candidate for a kidnapping victim. I'll see him in an electric chair by sunset, even if it kills me.

Teru Mikami walks past, and I'm tempted to slam him against a wall and beat him senseless, but I know he's not Kira. He was searched before he entered the police station, and he only had one cell phone, a Motorola RAZR which looks nothing like the phone in my hand. Still, I growl at him, "your heroic 'god' just kidnapped my girlfriend. He's using her to bait me into suicide. How does that make you feel, Mikami?"

He shrugs. "God's will be done. Those who defy God are punished with a Hell of their own making."

For the first time in my life, anger has escalated to rage. One moment, I'm holding the phone, looking down at it in misery and fury, the next, I have Mikami pinned under me with a broken, bleeding nose and a seemingly fractured jaw. Light hauls me off Teru, and says desperately, "focus, Ryuzaki! Beating on Kira worshipers isn't going to save Misa! Don't you have a plan?"

I look out the window. Watari is waiting in a limo that I arrived in, and behind it is the crimson Lamborghini that Light drove here. "yes, I have a plan…"

X

I flick open the cell phone, and call Kira back. Once again I'm met with a voice changer, as Kira answers, "L… I trust you've made a decision?"

I sigh. "where do you want me to die?"

Kira laughs. "find a nice courtyard or pavilion somewhere downtown. Stab yourself in the heart, and look into the evening sky as your life slips away. Consider Misa watching you die, make it dramatic and heroic."

"don't you have anything more specific?"

"not really, no, but if you could get it on camera, that'd be nice. A big courtyard, with a news crew. Die in front of the cameras."

Light taps me on the shoulder, and whispers something which Kira can't hear. "okay, I'll be dead by sunset. Eraldo Coil is already dead, you'll see that broadcast sometime around midnight."

"if I don't, Misa will die, and join you in Hell."

"that doesn't sound so bad." I hang up, knowing Kira is probably furious. "you finished the trace?"

Light grins. "he's in an abandoned warehouse, just about a mile from here. The Yellow Box."

Somehow, the name rings a bell, it's almost like déjà vu. "you're absolutely sure?"

"positive… look, do you need any help with this?"

"Light, let me explain this very slowly so you'll understand. I will… bring Kira… to his execution… personally and alone." I turn and climb the stairs up to the deck of the yacht, and jump to the wharf. The Lamborghini's engine roars as I turn the key. Suddenly, I don't hate driving anymore, and I'm roaring through the streets as fast as the engine can pull me.

X

Kira's POV

L is an idiot if he really believes I'll let his girl live. She has defied justice, and thus, she is a criminal. She'll die like any other villain in my new world, with a fatal heart attack… what the hell is that noise? Is that an engine? Sounds like a fighter jet headed for the warehouse… it's getting louder… a lot louder…

Oh, shit.

A red Lamborghini blasts straight through the wall of the Yellow Box, and it can still drive. I can see L, I watched him through binoculars when we talked on the phone. I really wish I had shinigami eyes, but if I'm going to maintain this new world, I have to live as long as possible. The Lamborghini is headed straight for me, so I grab my Death Note and run, throwing open the door to my Audi R8 sports car, a gift from my doting parents. Misa Amane is in the passenger seat, and as I gun the engine, I open the notebook, with the Audi on cruise-control. I grin, and begin writing, Misa Ama…

Her hands are tied, but she somehow brings up a foot to kick the Death Note from my hand, down to the pedals. I'm forced to leave it, and swerve, as L attempts a PIT maneuver. To make things easier on myself, I immediately knock Amane out cold. He shoots my back tires out with a handgun… I thought this guy was a detective, not Rambo… it doesn't matter, I'm here.

I grab the Death Note and crumple it into a pocket, then I carry Misa out of the car, across a wharf, and onto my speedboat. The son of a bitch won't catch me on the open ocean… I laugh at his feeble idiocy, and prepare to kill Misa… No! I need a weapon, to finish what I started. L is boarding another boat, if he gets close enough, I can kill him after all!

X

Ryuzaki's POV

So Kira has a speedboat. I can't believe he's been walking around the same marina as us. Taro Kagami… I have your name. If Misa dies, I swear to whatever gods are watching, you will die at my feet. I jump onto the Beneteau yacht and summon the purr of the motors, the sloshing of water around angrily spinning propellers. Kira will not escape me. "Light, get up here NOW!"

Light immediately climbs the stairs up to help me pilot the ship. "what's wrong, did you get him?"

"take the wheel and follow that speedboat!" he does, and aims the prow of the Beneteau at Kira. I immediately stand on said prow, and the first chance I get, I open fire on the propellers, motor, and rudder of Kira's boat, destroying his sole source of mobility. A speedboat doesn't have sails, so he's stranded. Light, meanwhile, is still closing in, and the distance between me and Taro… me and Misa… is shrinking. I jump, and land in a comfortable crouch on Taro Kagami's boat, as the two vessels collide behind me.

His eyes widen in shock and terror, he's been so busy, looking for a weapon with which to kill me, that he hasn't had the chance to kill Misa. My cold and calculating mind has been reduced to a single, savage thought: revenge. Kagami finds that out the hard way as his skull bounces off the steering wheel of the boat. I have him in a headlock, and I let him fly free as I spin 180 degrees, whipping him into the door to the hull, which breaks apart on impact. He tumbles down the stairs, a mercifully short drop in a speedboat, and lands at the bottom, unconscious, whereas Misa is conscious, having just woken in time to see what I've done.

My rage is forgotten, and I embrace her as she tries to get to her feet. "oh my God… oh my God…" she chants quietly, recovering from the terror of the ordeal. She's tough as nails, but this would traumatise just about anyone.

"it's okay," I whisper. "you're safe now."

"Ryuzaki…" she replies slowly, and pulls away from me, just enough to close the distance again with a kiss. "you saved my life," she mumbles weakly.

As sappy as it may sound, now is the perfect time to say it. "I love you, Misa."

She doesn't hesitate to reply, "I love you, Ryuzaki," at which point she faints in my arms.

A/N: this chapter took a long time, and it turned out longer than I expected, which I'm proud of.


	6. Deception

A/N: huh… it seems there were a couple of people who thought the story was done last chapter…

*maniacal Light laugh* how could I stop now? There's so much work left to do! I'm using fanfiction… to change the world!

L once said, "no one person, no matter how gifted, can change the world." I disagree completely. Everyone can change the world, and most people do. The great leaders of men can change history forever, but we ordinary people can make a difference, can accomplish something that matters. So, in a way, everyone here has likely already changed the world. Isn't that uplifting?

Oh, BTW, I've decided to specify the timeline a bit. This story takes place in 2013, but without a timeskip, so dates of birth have been changed. L was born 1991 and is 22. Misa was born 1993 and is 20. Light was born 1994 and is 19.

Disclaimer: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata own Death Note. Nickelback owns "Burn It To The Ground." I own Ivory Tower. L owns.

Journal of Taro Kagami

_If you're reading this, it means that I have been captured as Kira, and if I haven't been executed already, I will soon face that fate. Enclosed in the envelope with this journal entry are six more pages of ordinary paper, but they have been torn from a notebook that is the source of my godly power. If you picture a person's face in your mind whilst writing his or her name, that person will die of a heart attack after only forty seconds. If you're reading this, it means that you are now Kira. Fulfill God's mission, and delete all evil. I didn't lie when I said I had prepared for every possible contingence…_

X

Taro's POV

An electric chair… I am going to die in an electric chair? How ungodly. Still, at least I wasn't gunned down by L. How pathetic I would seem, dying in a pool of blood, screaming and swearing as my goal slips away into the darkness. At least in a chair I can die with dignity, and if I don't resist, it will seem as though I am without fear. It's true, I don't fear death, because I have done my part. I deleted as many criminals as I could in the time I was given, and I chose a worthy Kira to succeed me. With any luck, he's already begun to use the pages of the Death Note I gave him. The notebook itself has already been burned, meaning the six pages in the envelope are the last remains, but if my plans work out, that'll be enough to keep the shinigami bound to Earth. He'll haunt Kira, and he can supply my successor with pages torn from his own Death Note, or maybe even get a new notebook entirely. Kira has still won, whether I die here or not…

Or not? Someone is screaming… I crane my head to look around, and see that the executioner is dead on the floor, and the two guards are trying to open the door, screaming for help. The door can only be opened from outside, so as to keep Kira from escaping. Then, to my unending shock, the two guards collapse to the floor, dead and foaming at the mouth, one after the other. I hear a click, and the door swings inward, revealing Teru Mikami behind it, with a page of the Death Note in his hands. "I killed them for you, God…" he frees me from the restraints of the electric chair, and as I stand, he falls to his knees. It sounds like he's… praying at my feet…

X

Ryuzaki's POV

_Hopefully, with Taro Kagami's execution, this Kira business can end, at least for a while. However, I see a 67% chance that another Death Note will be picked up at some point over the next few years. Damn you, Kira, you're a problem that can never be solved._

It's two in the morning, and I still can't sleep. That's not really much of a shock, what with all the cake and candy I consumed today. It truly shocks me, how emotional I got yesterday. I nearly killed Taro with my bare hands, and as for Mikami… what I did to him was assault and battery, a felony. Then again, I don't regret it, because my anger toward Kagami saved Misa's life. Misa-Misa makes me feel human, the problem is that I need to get used to feeling human.

I need some sleep, badly. I stand up out of the chair and stumble my way to bed, despite the doubts I have that I'll be able to sleep. After crawling into a comfortable sleeping position, I immediately pass out.

Misa nudges me, with the sun bright on my face, and I groan. "what time…"

"noon. We have to be at that party in two hours, get up."

Now, I'll take this opportunity to explain that when Misa says we have to be at a party, she's serious. There's a mafia don throwing a party on the southern outskirts of Venice, and L has been commissioned to bring him down. "uh…" I mumble something incoherent, but Misa is already leaving the room. I nod off again, and she comes back after a few minutes, startling me awake again. She flicks me on the forehead, and I blearily look up at her. She's smiling sweetly and holding a cup of coffee.

"I wanna be nice about this, Ryuzaki, but if you don't drink it I'll have to pour it on you."

I quickly sit up, and find that I have a headache, a nasty one. "good morning… oh, you said it was noon." I gulp down the coffee and stand on my tiptoes in front of the bed, then let myself fall forward. I land on my hands, and begin a series of twenty pushups. The first jolts me awake, from the fear of my arms failing and my nose breaking on the floor.

Misa looks down at me as I decide twenty pushups isn't enough, and continue. "Jesus, Ryuzaki, slow down!" she crouches next to me, and lays a hand on my shoulder. "since when do you do pushups?"

"this is a habit I developed a few years ago, and dropped just before the Kira case began. This wakes me up," I begin as I push off the floor, and bring my feet up underneath me, crouching like Misa. "also, if I burn calories earlier in the day, I have a greater appetite, and all the sugar and candy I eat fuels my brain. Thus, doing pushups in the morning helps me solve cases during the day." I nibble on my thumbnail, and add, "it astounds even me that I'm so skinny. Between working out and pigging out, I should be twice this size."

X

Unknown POV (A/N: guess who it is…)

Kira has been freed, and he apparently now has an ally with similar powers. All I can deduce is that this new Kira likely appeared after L attacked Taro Kagami at the Yellow Box. However, this isn't a solid theory yet.

I have no real intention of leaving my sanctuary, but I admit, this Kira case has me enthralled, fascinated. The ability to kill from a distance, with only someone's name and face, in some cases, just a face… it's a horrible power. All who use it must be brought to justice, but not by me. I truly believe that L can finish this case without me, because he is perhaps the only person on Earth smarter than me.

Then again, he has two new apprentices… Misa Amane is one, and he seems to be attracted to her, rather intensely. Most people would call it love, but I have been detached from most people for too long. I saw her and L together on the news as they captured a Kira named Girardo Antovanni in Venice. She tackled him, but I don't have to be the genius that I am to know she only intended a hug. Both were wearing motorcycle helmets, but I traced the licence plates on the red Lamborghini to their owner, a Japanese model named Misa Amane.

A deeper background check showed that she was at one point the second Kira, confirming that L knows her, made a 100% probability by the fact he personally vouched for her acquittal, on the grounds that she no longer had Kira's power, and her memories of being Kira had disappeared as well.

The other apprentice, I can only guess is male, and is currently using the alias Eraldo Coil. I've been watching L intently, and I've only ever glimpsed this man through security cameras, most notably outside a hotel where I also glimpsed Kira, wearing a black hood.

This so-called Eraldo Coil was sitting, wounded, in the passenger seat of Misa Amane's Lamborghini Murcielago. He was also Japanese, with long brown hair, and wearing a black business suit. I couldn't see his eyes through his hair and the glare on the windshield, but I'd guess they were brown, the most common eye colour, both in the world and in Japan specifically.

My glimpse of his face, and his proximity to L, are the building blocks of a case without a crime. I want to know who Eraldo Coil really is.

After a few minutes of searching, I find what I'm looking for, the debriefing of Deputy Director Yagami Soichiro of the Japanese NPA. I know someone who knows someone else that would have this job done in seconds, but he's unavailable, so I continue my search.

According to Mr. Yagami, the task force investigating Kira was whittled down to just a few members, among them Mr. Yagami and L himself. L had suspicions that Kira was on the task force himself, and his sole suspect was Soichiro's 19-year-old son, one Yagami Raito, spoken in English as Light Yagami.

Searching his name, I find Raito's own debriefing, and a partial account of how Kira's power works. Summed up, Kira kills with an external weapon, not a magical power within the body. (naturally, I've had to hack the NPA databases at this point, since this information could drive any number of people to perform unthinkable evil to acquire said weapon)

Yagami Raito confessed to being Kira, but stated that upon releasing his hold on the weapon, his memories of the crime would disappear. L apparently believed the story, and acquitted Yagami. Finally, I find a picture of Light Yagami's face, and immediately recognize him as Eraldo Coil.

So, now I know the identities of all five players. L, Light Yagami, and Misa Amane stand united against the evil of Kira, whereas Taro Kagami and Teru Mikami uphold and practice this evil. It's three against two, with good outnumbering villainy, so introducing myself into the case would be unnecessary. I've solved the puzzle, so I'm satisfied.

Ryuzaki's POV

So much noise… "how can you stand it, Wedy? It's impossibly loud here."

Misa grins. "he won't hear us coming… Aiber."

Aiber and Wedy have been known to work for others besides L, so they're well known in the criminal underworld. By borrowing their aliases, Misa and I have infiltrated this… party?… with ease. Granted, I've had to modify my appearance a little. The leather jacket, I don't really mind, but I hate wearing these shoes.

_Well it's midnight, damn right_

_We're wound up too tight_

"oh, I love this song," Misa says, just loud enough for me to hear her. We continue working our way through the crowd, tailing the man behind the mafia, one Luigi Arposi, who seems to be rattled, and is trying to get outside.

_I got a fist full of whiskey, the bottle just bit me_

_Oh, that shit makes me bat-shit crazy_

_We got no fear, no doubt, _

_All in, balls out_

Something's wrong. We obviously haven't given away our identities or plans, and now that I think about it, I don't recognize any of these partygoers… wait, there's one… the leader of an enemy crime family? He's making out with a girl half his age, surrounded by very tough-looking men in suits, all of which are practically bulging with concealed weapons.

That's when it clicks. This party is a gathering of all Don Arposi's competitors and loose ends. Aiber and Wedy could also be considered a major threat. He plans to kill everyone here.

_We're going out tonight_

_To kick out every light_

_Take anything we want_

_Drink everything in sight_

_We're going till the world stops turning_

_While we burn it to the ground tonight_

"Misa, we have to hurry. This whole place is coming down."

She turns to look at me, startled. "what? Why would Arposi kill his own friends?"

"they're not his friends. Everyone here is Arposi's competition."

Her eyes widen in surprise and comprehension. "then the doors are gonna be sealed off." she explains, "he's not gonna blow us up, he'll burn the place down with everyone trapped inside. He'll have every door barricaded, except the one he's headed for now, which has thugs waiting outside it. If we follow him out, we'll be killed."

"so what do you suggest?"

"the windows. We climb out a window… he might have snipers, so we could make it look like an accident. You have a hood on that jacket, right?" I nod, and she continues, "all right, we're gonna stage a fight between you and me, and it's gonna end with you getting thrown out a window…"

"I have a bit of a problem with that."

"okay, fine, nobody gets thrown out a window. So what do we do?"

"Arposi used to hold meetings here, with his own mafia. If there's a hidden escape, it's probably blocked too, but the tables… there's a thirty-two percent chance those tables in the main hall are reinforced with steel plates on the bottom. If the meeting were attacked, Arposi and his men could take cover behind the table, and if I'm correct, so can we."

_We're screamin like demons and swingin from the ceiling_

_I got a fist full of fifties, tequila just hit me_

I smell smoke, and I realize they've already begun. While Misa and I were talking, Arposi just kept going, and now we're trapped. Screams replace the music as the partygoers realize they're sentenced to death.

"alright, let's do this." I turn back, and grab the nearest table, flipping it onto its side. The white tablecloth and platters of food slide onto the floor in a heap. "where's the door Arposi went through?" Misa points to one of the few doors not already burning. "alright, get behind me and keep your head down." I hold the table in front of myself, and curl my head into my collarbone, then charge at the barricaded door, blowing it open. Three men are standing outside, two with guns, one unarmed. Arposi. Bullets pierce the wood of the table, but the metal plate in front of me is unharmed, as am I. The idiots wasted all the bullets in their revolvers in just a few seconds, so I shove one to the ground with the table, pinning him under it, then turn and kick the other gunman in the stomach. He doubles over, and I deliver a knife-hand chop to the back of his neck, knocking him out cold. Arposi has drawn a switchblade, and he comes at me with it, but he doesn't seem to realize that I've been learning martial arts since I was five. I slap the wrist holding the weapon away, and punch him in the nose. I feel his nose crunching under my fist, but this by itself won't deal with him, so I jump into the air, do a full 360 degree spin, and roundhouse kick him… that one's actually my favourite. He brought up his hands to defend himself, and the one with the knife actually cut my leg, but it's barely drawing blood. I won't even limp from it.

I pull a pair of handcuffs out of my pocket, and roll Arposi over so he's face-down on the concrete. I cuff his hands behind his back, and turn to face Misa. My heart leaps as I see the blazing building behind her. I step inside, and call out to everyone, "this way! Come on, every other door is blocked!"

This immediately summons countless coughing, terrified people, who see Misa with one of the revolvers, protecting the unconscious, helpless crime boss from being brutally murdered. If I hadn't already confirmed that Misa's Kira-mentality was gone, then this would be solid evidence, but of course, I had already convinced myself the second Kira was gone for good anyway.

She turns and glares at me, which I find quite unnerving. "Aiber."

"Wedy."

"you just ran into a burning building, and left me out here watching over three guys you beat the shit out of. You could have died."

"to be fair, the odds of me burning alive while the exit was in arm's reach were about the same as the odds of me being struck by lightning." I look up at the night sky, starry, clear, and cloudless. "still, I get what you mean. I'll be more careful."

She twirls the revolver on her finger, aims it at my head, and pulls the trigger. Click. "you need to teach me how to do that kung fu stuff."

X

Light's POV

Kira… Taro Kagami… Ryuzaki isn't the only one who wants you dead. With my chin resting on my palm, I stare with tired malice into the text message from Watari to L's computer.

_Taro Kagami is alive, he has an unidentified ally who also possesses a notebook. _

_How many people out there are so easily corrupted by Kira's motto? Obviously, there's at least one more, and that's starting to get to me. "kill all criminals, and the innocent live carefree… I'm getting tired of hearing it." I jump as I remember that it was me who started the whole thing._

_Misa! She could die at any second… Kagami has seen her face and knows her name. Honestly, I don't feel anything for her, but Ryuzaki does. If she dies… I'm scared to even think of what Ryuzaki might do._

_I've pushed my anger down under a veil, a façade of nonchalance, and because of that, my outbursts of anger are much worse than they would be if I showed my emotions freely. Ryuzaki's so cold, people have honestly mistaken him for a robot… what would he be capable of, if Kagami got through his shell? He was a monster when he was chasing Kagami, but he was a monster with a cause. He nearly killed Kira with his bare hands, in an effort to protect Misa. With all his money and power, what would Ryuzaki do to someone who actually killed her?_

_The thought truly terrifies me. _

_X_

_Taro's POV _

"_give me a page, Teru." I need my revenge against L, and the only way for me to have it is to kill Misa. Even having Teru kill her would feel hollow, I need to do it myself. _

"_no way! You mean you really can't kill without this paper?"_

"_that's right."_

"_then… you're not God…"_

"_huh?"_

"_get back!" Teru is freaking out, curling up around the last three pages of the notebook. Was he serious when he called me God?_

"_I never claimed to be God, Teru. I was just doing God's will, and deleting criminals." I can't tell him I want to kill Misa for revenge, that might send him way over the edge. Maybe I should wait to kill Misa… yeah. I'll kill her right in front of L. _

"_well, now I'm doing God's will. I get it now… you strayed from the path of righteousness, and now I have the option to delete you…" Teru holds out the page of Death Note, and says, "you're not evil, Taro, you're just lost. I will help you, because that's what Kira does… I am creating a better world for those that evil is corrupting, but has not yet truly taken over."_

_I'm gonna have to kill this guy… just great. Here we are in an empty apartment, which means no furniture, and thus no hidden weapons. I'll have to steal the pages of Death Note while he sleeps, and write his name… then Misa's… that is, if he doesn't change his mind and kill me first. Damn it, I'm not ready to die, and I'm not losing to L, much less this nutcase. What was I thinking, naming him Kira? He's completely unstable!_

_I'm not a God… yet… yes, Teru, I think I can thank you for one more thing besides saving my life. You've given me a glorious idea: I will become the God of this new world!_


	7. Scheme

Ryuzaki's POV

"apple, apple, apple… damn, only three left!"

Ryuk is usually as unnoticed by me as he is by those who can't see him at all, but at times like this, his presence is very apparent… and very irritating.

Ryuk slams the fridge door, and I hear him munch an apple. "hey, Lawliet! We only got three apples left, and you know what happens when I run out of these things!"

"Ryuk. It's five in the morning, and I'm tired, which is unusual for me. I'm not myself when I'm tired… I might decide to twist you into a pretzel-knot three apples early. Let me sleep." hm… did I really just threaten an immortal god of death? What's gotten into me?

Misa rolls over in bed, and slides her arm over my chest. We've been sleeping together, but we've only slept, nothing more. "you weren't lying about your name…" Lawliet. Yes, I told her my name weeks ago, on our first date. Even half-asleep, Misa realizes the significance of that, how much I trusted her even back then. I gave her everything she needed to kill me with my own Death Note, which she could have done if she was still the Second Kira. It wasn't a test, but I suppose it must have seemed that way. "five in the morning," she mutters groggily, then crawls upward to her hands and knees, pushing me down as she does, then sits next to me. "teach me some kung fu so I can whip that idiot's ass."

I won't be getting back to sleep now… just wonderful. No matter, I've solved murder cases on less sleep than this. "I was thinking we could start with jujitsu, since you have past experience with it."

"yeah, sure. I wonder if that pressure-point stuff you see ninjas do in the movies might work on a shinigami."

"ninja movies?"

"yeah, you know… _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_… it's all super-awesome kung fu stuff. In some of these movies, the ninja can poke somebody in the gut, or the back of the neck, and they just freeze."

"I know what you're talking about. Frankly, I'm baffled by the image in my head, of you double-fisting popcorn in front of _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_. Still…" I'm not entirely sure what possesses me to do this, but it's probably some strange impulse to impress Misa. I feign sleepiness, as I get up out of bed, and open the door to find Ryuk stuffing the second-last apple on the ship into his ugly mug. "hey, Ryuk… you shinigami can't be killed, but tell me, can you feel this?"

"wha…" a quick strike to his lower spine, and he freezes in mid-sentence after a short yelp. Completely immobilized, at least for a few hours. He can still see me…

Ryuk laughs - damn it, I hate that laugh - and devours his last apple. "yeah, I felt it. It kinda tickled. Oh, by the way, I want twenty apples, big fresh ones, by noon, and if you do that, I'll let you in on something interesting… something you'll wanna know, something about the Death Note."

X

"twenty apples. Now, let's hear this, so I can get back to bed."

Ryuk holds up an ancient-looking scroll, with just two fingers, mocking me. "this is a list of rules for use of the Death Note, and also a list of rules that shinigami have to obey, or face punishment in the shinigami realm. I got it on a trip back there, because I didn't want to end up condemning myself to death following first-degree agony. I can't give it to you, that's a rule, but I can read out loud to you. Get this… the only way to protect a human from being killed by the notebook, is to misspell their name four times. But if the name is misspelled four times on purpose, the owner of the notebook dies."

I scoff. "who wrote these rules? This will be easy."

Ryuk slices open the bag of apples with his fingernail, and plucks the biggest one out of the bag. "I don't really know who wrote it all, but… wait, easy?"

"yes. It depends on whether or not the Death Note can temporarily exist without an owner, though."

"yeah, it can… but the moment you touch the notebook, ownership reverts to you. What are you thinking?"

"you're going to find out, right now." I pick up the Death Note off the table, and tear out a page, twisting it into a rope which I wrap around my wrist, holding it in place with clear tape. "I will now forfeit ownership of the notebook, on the condition that you and the notebook stay here until someone picks it up."

"fine… where would I go, anyway? This is all so interesting."

"let's do this." my memories don't vanish, thanks to the page wrapped around my wrist, which doesn't grant me ownership, it simply holds my memories in place. A piece of a page won't do that, but a whole page will, which I learned in a quick experiment with Light, which went well.

Careful not to touch the notebook, I put pen to paper, and write:

Miisa Amane

Missa Aeman

Misa Amna

Misa Amaane

Now, I count the forty seconds… and tell Misa I love her, just in case. As the forty-second mark hits, I flinch… and sigh. I pick up the notebook, gasp, and clutch my chest, then faceplant on the table.

Misa smacks me. "get up, Ryuzaki. Here I was, thinking you were so smart and mature."

"I really thought you'd fall for that," I mutter as I get up. I rip the page off my wrist, and close the notebook. "Misa, you may well be the first person on Earth ever to be Death Note-proofed. Congratulations… now we move on to jujitsu."

X

Taro's POV

Damn him… he's got the notebook under his shirt, and he's sleeping facedown anyway… he's expecting me to betray him.

Fine. It's not like he's got me imprisoned in here, I can just go out and buy a weapon. A switchblade should do nicely. I'll run the risk of being noticed by L, but at this point, what choice do I have? I'll have to come out of hiding eventually, so I'll do it now, so I can kill Teru, take back the notebook, and be ready for my confrontation with L. Maybe I'll even go so far as to pay half my remaining lifespan for the shinigami eyes. Either way, the first thing I'm going to do when I get my Death Note back is kill Misa Amane.

I take my jacket, and a baseball cap as an afterthought, and leave Teru Mikami to snore into his blankets.

As I head out the door, I face the fact that I'm going to have to leave Venice. I escaped my execution, thanks to the man I now have to kill, but that means they'll be looking for me. The Italian police, Interpol, L himself, everyone. I have to disappear, so where do I go? It'll have to be a densely populated country, with a primary language that I speak, where the police have less control than here. A less developed South American country should do nicely.

I freeze, and grin. A plan has formed in my head, and it's pretty risky, but if it works…

First, I'll have to get the Death Note back from Mikami, but I won't kill him. No, I'll use him… yes, I'll manipulate him with the Death Note before he dies! The paragraph is already forming in my mind:

_Mikami Teru, Heart Attack_

_Victim dies after twenty-three days of complete obedience to the owner of this notebook, with his primary goal being the capture and murder of the two men using the aliases L and Eraldo Coil. He captures L's girlfriend within five days of this being written, and uses her as bait in an attempt to capture and kill L. Should L be captured successfully, Mikami will use his shinigami eyes to tell the owner of this notebook L's name, but if Mikami should be captured, he will die immediately of a heart attack when he comes in contact with a pair of handcuffs. _

X

Ryuzaki's POV

_L, do you know? Gods of death love apples…_

After so long, this fact has finally become useful. Ryuk is horribly addicted to apples, and now he has something of use to me, something he can trade for apples. That scroll has already saved Misa's life, and the more apples I give Ryuk, the more information he gives me. Still, he can't help me solve the case. Taro Kagami is still roaming free, he has an accomplice, and he is killing criminals.

The only real advantage we have is that he can't actually kill me, Misa, or Light. I can only guess that he'll try to leave Venice. There's only a 20% chance he'll stay in Italy, and a 60% chance he'll actually manage to escape. Wherever he goes, it'll probably be somewhere I'll have a hard time finding him. He'll head to a poorer country, where the population is high. If he stays on the move, the police won't be able to track him, and neither will I.

Still, we have a chance to catch him before he leaves. For that, I'll have to direct the police into searching for him, while also using my reasoning to narrow down the search area. If I were Kagami, if I were Kira, where would I hide? How would I hide?

I have to figure this out quickly. Once Taro realizes Misa is alive, he'll resort to trying to kill her without the notebook… no… by the time I used the Death Note to protect Misa, Taro should have already killed her. He's been on the loose for days! What was he waiting for?

Let's go over the facts. By the time Taro was saved from execution by another Second Kira, his Death Note had already been incinerated. It's possible that his new accomplice acquired another notebook, but I think he probably just acquired a few pages from Taro's Death Note. Either way, that means that Taro probably doesn't have any scraps of the notebook. Is it possible that the Second Kira has refused to share the pages with Taro?

Judging by the fact that there's been no apparent string of deaths, like in the Yotsuba case, to indicate the Death Note is being used for personal gain, I'll assume that this new Kira follows the same motives as Light Yagami and Taro Kagami. If he's preventing Taro from using the notebook, it must mean he's doing so because he believes Taro will misuse it.

_Kira is God!_

Why did those words come back to me? Teru Mikami… a prosecuting attorney, a Kira worshiper… could he be the new Kira after all? It would explain why he would be so protective of the notebook. Mikami is delusional, possibly even insane. If he's Kira, he likely believes that he is God's "chosen one," or something like that. If that's true, it means that Taro is no longer that hero. Teru would distrust his predecessor, operating under the assumption that Taro has somehow fallen from grace.

I briefly break my train of thought and look around. The alarm clock tells me it's 3:00 AM, and the light of the full moon in the window shows me that I'm alone in bed. Misa isn't here. Silently, I get up, and stretch, then open the door to the main living room of the Oceanis 58. Misa is sitting cross-legged in front of my laptop, with a chocolate bar dangling from between her teeth. "morning, Ryuzaki."

"what exactly are you doing?"

"looking for Kira. You remember that guy you interrogated before I was kidnapped? Teru Mikami? I think he's involved in this after all. He might even be the new Kira."

"I was thinking the exact same thing. Just a minute ago." I turn to the cupboards, and immediately begin raiding them. My deductive reasoning skills are as sharp as a razor, but at three in the morning, my memory is a little hazy, so I can't remember where I left my chocolate. "how did you come up with that theory?"

"he's who I would pick as a new Kira. He's already a Kira worshiper, and he's a lawyer too… not to mention he's Japanese. It'd be easier for Taro to communicate with someone in his native tongue, rather than speak in Italian."

"he's also delusional. When I interrogated him, it became apparent that he genuinely believes Kira is God. Such a devotion would be easy for Kagami to manipulate."

"oh… what are you looking for, anyway?"

"anything with a high sugar content. A chocolate bar, sugar cubes, cake, strawberries… I need something like that to get myself going. When I sit down, my intelligence drops by only forty percent, but when my blood sugar is low, it drops by seventy." I pull out a chocolate bar like Misa's, and unwrap it. "it's becoming clearer now, that the more time we spend together, the more we are becoming alike."

I share my deductions with her, and she nods when I finish. "so, which one of them do you think has the notebook now?"

"I'm assuming it's Mikami. Otherwise, Taro would have probably killed him, and his body would likely have turned up. Then again, it's possible that they've both already fled the country… but it's doubtful. There's roughly an eighty percent chance Kira will try to kill us at least once more before retreating."

"well, he'll have to come get us. Whichever one he is right now… it doesn't matter. I'm safe, and Taro doesn't know your name. if Teru is Kira, he probably has shinigami eyes, since he worshiped the first Kira. But, he hasn't even seen your face, so we have them cornered."

"they'll have to attack us in person… somehow the thought unnerves me." after another bite of the chocolate, which calms me somewhat, I add, "it feels like they're already coming."

A/N: sorry this one's shorter than usual. It wasn't exactly writer's block, but I just didn't have the willpower to write anything for this or my other fics. See, I finished a story called Soulrend about two weeks ago, and I haven't written much since. I wandering around the incomplete chapters of various incomplete stories, trying to get back in the groove, but I'm off my game.

If there are any Bleach fans out there, I'm actually starting another story for you :) although I haven't quite worked out the name. it's a series of oneshots, all IchiRuki (or Rukichi) with a heavy dose of fluff. I just don't have it in me to write one of those dark, depressing stories, and I'm completely incapable of even trying to mix that crap with a perfectly good romance. I don't do sad, I don't do unhappy endings. (hint hint, wink wink…)

Yes, I said that I firmly believe that sad stories are crappy, and generally suck. I don't hang out on FF to depress myself, because…

*another Light impression* with writing, I can now create… a BETTER WORLD! With the power to decide what happens to anyone, why would I possibly want to create tragedy and darkness? No… I see a better, brighter future, because the people deserve it.

I hope I'm not pissing off the L fans with all my Light-style Kira rants, or any of you darkfic writers with my blatant opposition to your work, but hey, I am who I am, and if I'm annoying, I'll damn well enjoy being annoying. Power to the annoying! #AnnoyingThing… 'cept trolls. I have no patience for trolls, and any of you who dare invade my Ivory Tower shall find yourselves on the business end of a pen-induced heart attack.

This author's note is too damn long, so I'll see you next time. Oh yeah, one last thing:

Please review.

Unless you're a troll.


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